Vancouver Canucks general manager Jim Benning tried to find a new club for forward Loui Eriksson this offseason but failed to do so.
"We tried to get him a new team, a new opportunity, a fresh start. That didn't happen," Benning said Thursday on Sportsnet 650's "Starting Lineup."
"As of right now, Loui is under contract with us. When he plays he can still kill penalties for us, he's a good defensive player.
"We wanted him to score more when we signed him, that hasn't happened. But he's still part of our team, part of our group. He's an experienced guy."
Since signing a six-year, $36-million contract with the Canucks in 2016, Eriksson has failed to find his footing and produce at the level that he did earlier in his career.
Eriksson was a six-time 20-plus goal-scorer before joining the Canucks, including two seasons where he notched 30 or more goals. He's totaled just 38 goals in 245 games during the four seasons he's spent in Vancouver.
The 35-year-old was a healthy scratch on numerous occasions during the 2019-20 season and managed six goals and seven assists in 49 games. Last offseason, Benning confirmed he would look into trading Eriksson after the forward said he and head coach Travis Green "don't really get on 100 percent."
Eriksson has two years remaining on his contract, carrying an average annual value of $6 million.
Ellert Vickström was already old by hockey standards - older than Joe Thornton is now - when his 6-year-old son, Timy, began to travel with him to away matchups in the lower ranks of the Swedish pro game. Ellert played left wing in Falun, his hometown and the site of a world-renowned medieval copper mine. His teammates were tight-knit, bonded by banter and the hands of poker they'd deal on the bus. Young Timy, impressionable and along for the ride, got hooked on team spirit and, in turn, on the sport.
This was late in the 1990s. Timy is now 28 years old. He leads a Falun-based semi-pro team in scoring, and occasionally his shifts overlap with those of his captain, a beloved elder statesman who nonetheless poses a threat to his cred.
"Sometimes, I've wanted to shout at Ellert. I've almost been shouting, 'Dad!'" Timy said. "And then (I think), oh, f---. I can't say that."
Such is life on the ice with the 64-year-old man who, as far as theScore can tell, is the oldest competitive hockey player on the planet. Safe to say he's the only Swede of his vintage with a hard wrist shot, abidingly good injury luck, and hope that the country's ongoing, pandemic-induced sports hiatus won't hasten the end of his career.
Ellert Vickström. Supplied by BK Ockra
Ellert Vickström hasn't missed a season since 1962, the year he joined his first Falun youth team. It was the same year Chris Chelios, to cite a more recognizable but less prolific iron man, was born. Where Chelios, the Hall of Fame defenseman, hung up his skates a decade ago after 1,651 NHL games, Vickström doesn't plan to retire until April - from his longtime day job, that is, as a paint factory and lab technician.
His hockey future is less definite. The 2020-21 season is Vickström's 59th across all levels of the game, as well as his first playing alongside Timy for BK Ockra, the club he and his son helped found this year to compete in HockeyTrean, Sweden's fifth division. Leagues below the third tier have postponed play as Sweden combats a surge in coronavirus cases. That means Ellert and Timy are idling in Falun, having recently contracted and recovered from COVID-19 themselves.
"What to do?" Ellert said. "Just wait."
Barred from practicing, hoping that the schedule will resume in the new year, the disruption has at least freed time for Vickström to consider the fruits of his longevity. He's gotten to represent a dozen teams: Kniva IK, Falu HC, Hälsinggårdens AIK. He scored four goals in an outdoor game for fourth-tier Sundborn around 1990. ("Some years ago" is his best estimate on the timing.) He played three games for BK Ockra this October before he fell ill with fever, cough, a headache, and pain in his bones, which laid him low for a couple of weeks.
Ellert Vickström (25), 1988. Supplied by BK Ockra
Pre-coronavirus, Vickström's health history was characterized by surprising fortune. The knocks he's suffered over six decades - broken ribs here, a puck to the nose there - all hurt but healed. That, sleeping well, and sticking to his home squat-and-bench-press regimen form the extent of his explanation for how he's still mobile. Vickström "doesn't go as fast as he used to," concedes BK Ockra forward Kalle Gunnarsson, a longtime teammate. "But he can still manage to get on the team for every match and be competitive."
"I don't think I've done anything special," Vickström told theScore in a recent Zoom interview, though he added one more word to the wise: "Get yourself good teammates. That's good advice."
Vickström's BK Ockra teammates are an eclectic bunch. They range in age from 16 (forwards Albin Eljas and Andrei Jansson) to 52 (reserve goalie Ulf Alexandersson), and they include a 38-year-old former KHL and Swedish Hockey League netminder, Daniel Sperrle, who once went six playoff games - 390 minutes and 12 seconds in all - without allowing a goal in the Russian second division.
Gunnarsson, a fellow BK Ockra co-founder, teaches hockey and carpentry at a Falun high school. Other players work by day at hospitals, sell office supplies, and comprise three-fourths of Bolaget, a party-rock quartet with 450,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. Bolaget's vocalist has moonlighted as the PA announcer at Ockra home games.
BK Ockra's top scorer, with 11 goals and five assists in four games, is Timy Vickström, who used to play as high as Sweden's third division. Tiring of the sport and wanting to prioritize his university business studies, Timy stepped away from competition in 2017, cementing a rare family dynamic: "I actually quit playing hockey before my dad." When Hälsinggårdens AIK, Ellert and Gunnarsson's old club in Falun, folded last year, a few players committed to launching their own HockeyTrean squad, and the younger Vickström was persuaded to mount a comeback.
Sweden's secondary pro rungs feature a promotion and relegation system reminiscent of English soccer. It's BK Ockra's ambition to move up from the fifth tier once the pandemic abates, the economy recovers, and fan interest and sponsorship dollars help stock the roster with more talent.
Falun is about 140 miles northwest of Stockholm. Google Maps
Before the season stalled, the founders sought to drum up buzz in part by aligning with local lore. "Ockra" translates to ocher, the earthy pigment found at Falun Mine, a UNESCO heritage site that dates back a millennium. The team's logo is an ibex, the mountain goat that is said to have dug up the town's first copper extract.
The most distinctive story they have going for them is that of their captain. When BK Ockra welcomed Ellert Vickström to the lineup in a Facebook post this summer, replies in English and Swedish hailed him as a "legend," "Superman," and "The King." One fan suggested erecting a statue of him at the Falun sports complex. "Everybody you meet on the street, he's played with," Timy said in the Zoom interview. That Ellert is still going is a credit to his refusal to skimp on training, Timy added, tapping his dad's upper arm for effect.
"He's got some muscles," Timy said. "To be able to play at the level he still does, you have to have really good fitness. He's the golden example of it. If you keep up your preseason workouts, then you can do it. And, of course, you have to have talent. It's not amateur hockey we play. It's real senior hockey."
Though he didn't record a point in his three October appearances, Ellert took a regular shift as BK Ockra secured some convincing wins, including a 9-1 rout of lowly Kvarnsvedens GoIF. Late that month, a COVID-19 outbreak sickened the Vickströms and five other players, forcing Ockra to shutter operations for two weeks as everyone recovered. Ockra returned to practice in mid-November just as public health authorities instituted sweeping restrictions, pausing the planned 16-game season before any team in the region got even halfway there.
Ellert (left) and Timy Vickström, on different teams in 2016. Supplied by BK Ockra
Whether or not the schedule can be salvaged, Timy figures this'll be his last season; he intends to enter the workforce once he graduates next summer, and he wants to focus on guiding BK Ockra off the ice as club chairman. Ellert has yet to decide if he'll be back next year for a 60th go-around. Retiring from work and play would free him up to winter in the Philippines, where he has a house, and fulfill a longstanding wish to live abroad for a time.
"In one way, I want him to quit, and in one way I don't. There's pretty tough, big guys in the league, and I don't want him to get hurt. At this age, it feels unnecessary," Timy said. "But at the same time, we all think it's amazing that he plays."
Exiting the game together would feel complete to the Vickströms, closing a circle that opened with those lively bus trips out of Falun. By hanging on this long, Ellert has already cinched worldwide distinction. More than 800,000 men's and women's players have their stats logged on the hockey website Elite Prospects. Seven active players were born in the 1950s, per the site's database, and he's the oldest to have dressed in games this season.
By enduring in obscure leagues around Europe, these players - Maria Senkowsky, 63, in Austria's second women's division; Josef Cechura and Jaroslav Prantner, 64 and 62, teammates in the Czech eighth tier - represent a rare breed of old-timer. The competition is far less skilled, yet they're encroaching nevertheless on Gordie Howe territory, "Mr. Hockey" having laced them up at age 69 to play a single game for the minor-league Detroit Vipers.
It so happens that Ellert Vickström was once part of an inline hockey team named after Howe. The late Red Wings icon is his idol, the reason Vickström ditched his customary No. 25 this season to sport jersey No. 9. He admired Howe's staying power, plus his swagger and edge, qualities that are ascertainable in old YouTube clips. He never actually got to watch Howe live.
"It was a little bit before my time," Vickström said, smiling.
Vancouver Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini appeared to fire longtime anthem singer Mark Donnelly after he confirmed he's singing at an anti-mask rally on Saturday.
The British Columbia Christmas Freedom Rally 2020 is set to occur Saturday in Vancouver. Those involved are protesting COVID-19 restrictions imposed for the holiday season.
"I sing 'O Canada' as a sign of unity and strength for all Canadians," Donnelly said. "The true north strong and free."
The Canucks made a statement prior to Aquilini's tweet condemning Donnelly's involvement at the event.
"Mark Donnelly is acting independently and we hope the public understands he is not representing the Vancouver Canucks," said COO Trent Carroll. "We encourage everyone to wear a mask and to follow the provincial health orders."
The Minnesota Wild won't have one of their key playmakers in the lineup when the 2020-21 campaign begins.
Mats Zuccarello will not be ready for the start of the season after undergoing right arm surgery several weeks ago, according to The Athletic's Michael Russo. The winger left his native Norway for Minnesota to consult with his team's medical staff, reports Russo.
Doctors found a torn ligament in Zuccarello's arm, and the 33-year-old played through the injury for most of 2019-20, Russo adds. It's the same arm Zuccarello broke in his first game with the Dallas Stars in 2018-19.
The 10-year veteran produced 15 goals and 22 assists in 65 games for the Wild last season. It was his first with Minnesota after signing a five-year, $30-million contract with the club as a free agent on July 1, 2019.
Zuccarello spent his first eight campaigns and much of his ninth with the New York Rangers before they traded him to the Stars in February 2019. He ultimately played only two regular-season games and 13 playoff contests before signing with the Wild.
As we await word on the fate of the 2020-21 NHL season, theScore is revisiting innovative ideas from different corners of the hockey world. Consider this four-part series food for thought during a most unusual offseason. (Part 1 is about replacing the draft lottery. Parts 3 and 4 will arrive Monday and Tuesday, respectively.)
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Picture this: It's Sunday, April 7, 2019, hours removed from the NHL regular season and three days before playoff action begins. The Tampa Bay Lightning, who laid waste to the competition for the past six months - winning 62 of 82 games - have earned the right to choose their first-round opponent in the Eastern Conference. That pick is due to the league office in advance of a selection show airing Sunday night on national TV.
It's a gigantic decision that could smooth their path through the first round. Or it could blow up in their face.
Scott Audette / Getty Images
Tampa Bay could tap the Columbus Blue Jackets, who recorded the fewest points among East playoff clubs. Or perhaps the Lightning will pick the Carolina Hurricanes, who finished with just one extra point and don't boast a true No. 1 goalie. And then, there are the Toronto Maple Leafs, who are, essentially, Lightning Light.
The Lightning were 3-0 in the regular season against both Columbus and Carolina and 3-1 against Toronto, a division rival. Now they get to pick their poison.
In reality, the 2018-19 Lightning were automatically paired with the wild-card Blue Jackets, who went on to sweep Tampa Bay. Maybe the Hurricanes or Maple Leafs would have made quick work of the Lightning, too. But that's not the point.
What matters is that such a decision would add a layer of suspense and intrigue to the NHL campaign. The top regular-season team each year claims the Presidents' Trophy and home-ice advantage for the duration of its playoff run. What if that club also had an influence on the first-round matchups?
Dave Sandford / Getty Images
This hypothetical has played out at lower levels of hockey. Teams in the ICE Hockey League of Austria have been choosing opponents since the 2012-13 postseason in its "Playoff Pick." The Southern Professional Hockey League did something similar - called the "Challenge Round" - in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 postseasons.
"If you're the NHL and you want people to obsessively talk about you, have some drama," former SPHL president Jim Combs said in a recent interview.
In the SPHL's case, the regular-season points leader picked its opponent from a pool of four teams that finished fifth through eighth in the standings for a best-of-three series. The second and third seeds in the 10-team, division-free league followed suit, leaving the fourth-place club to link up with the remaining playoff contender. (Teams were reseeded in the second round and paired according to their regular-season point totals.)
The SPHL - which introduced three-on-three overtime in 2004, a decade before the NHL did - is a rung below the ECHL on the North American pro hockey ladder. Its franchises are clustered in the United States' Midwest and Southeast, in places like Huntsville, Alabama; Pensacola, Florida; and Peoria, Illinois. Therefore, travel factored into the decision-making process for teams tasked with choosing a playoff foe. The quality of the opponent, health of rosters, and recent performance were other variables commonly considered.
In the first year of Combs' experiment, the league aired an event called the Challenge Round Selection Show. Former NHLer Terry Crisp and Alabama football radio voice Eli Gold co-hosted, and, after a live audience rained boos on Combs a la Gary Bettman, the president revealed each pick.
YouTube screenshot
If it sounds gimmicky, that's because it was. But there was also an undeniable appeal to the whole gambit, and Combs - who left the SPHL in 2018 to pursue other opportunities - remains bullish on the idea.
"In the NHL, we already know who is going to play who. There's no point in talking about who's going to match up with who (as the regular season winds down) because it's already set by the standings," Combs said. "Well, with the Challenge Round, we put the onus on those top teams to pick who they think they can beat.
"Sometimes the one-seed doesn't want to touch the eight-seed because eight could have been terrible for the last two months but they got their best players back recently, are on a hot streak, winning lots over the last three weeks, and really have a lot of momentum coming into the playoffs. Now, what do they do?"
Combs borrowed the idea from former NHL linesman and referee Lyle Seitz, who since 2011 has been the director of hockey operations for ICE. Seitz reports parallel benefits to the Challenge Round in his loop's Playoff Pick format, including heightened intensity in the regular season as teams jockey for position throughout the standings, great publicity for the postseason through a widely watched TV spectacle, bulletin-board material for the lower-end teams, and an extra incentive and reward for the elite clubs.
"The owners and players mostly like it," Seitz said. "The major complaints I get are from the coaches. It's not as if they don't like the idea, it's just that all the pressure's on them."
Dave Sandford / Getty Images
Therein lies the fundamental problem with the pick-your-opponent proposal, at least from the NHL's perspective. It's often dismissed as "bush league," or something below the standards of the world's top association. So, who among the owners, managers, coaches, and players would ever champion such an outside-the-box concept?
"It might be great for (the SPHL), but it's not something I'd encourage our league to do, and I couldn't see it ever happening," Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill said in 2018.
"I don't like it," Washington Capitals GM Brian MacLellan told Craig Custance of The Athletic in March. "I like to play who you're supposed to play. You play a whole season to get your spot in the standings and you play it out. I imagine, if you're picking someone it'll be a little motivation to the team you're picking, 'Oh really? You're picking us?'"
MacLellan raises a valid point. There's nothing wrong with the NHL playoffs' level of entertainment. The on-ice product sells itself year after year, sans gimmicks. And as the old saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
The NHL held a fantasy draft ahead of the annual All-Star Weekend for five years from 2011 through 2015, during which captains chose their teammates for the weekend. By all accounts, it went well in terms of production and buzz. A similar show before the playoffs would be an entirely different beast, however, with the stakes infinitely higher and tone much more serious.
"The fans liked it. The coaches hated it. It's a great idea until you pick a fight with someone," Combs said, laughing at the memory of the SPHL's experiment. "My favorite part about being involved in the Challenge Round was that I administered it, was involved in the show, but there was no pressure on me. I didn't have to pick an opponent, no one picked me."
Chase Agnello-Dean / Getty Images
The selection show would be somewhat familiar to NHL fans, too. It would essentially serve as the draft lottery on steroids. Instead of Bill Daly flipping over a giant card to reveal who has the first overall pick, the NHL's deputy commissioner would unveil exactly how Playoff Team X feels about Playoff Team Y, manufacturing hysteria in multiple markets. The drama, then, would begin prior to Game 1 puck drop, not at some point during the series.
Keith Yandle is in favor of the concept, though the Florida Panthers defenseman admitted last year he's probably in the minority. Combs said one NHL team absolutely loved the idea when the SPHL first unveiled its plans in 2017. An executive told him the club's hockey operations staff debated the merits of potential opponents for hours on end.
There's a case to be made that the 2020-21 NHL season would be an ideal time to introduce the pick-your-opponent concept, as it will be a shortened campaign. TV ratings were down for the 24-team bubbled postseason, and this twist, which Major League Baseball has also discussed, would spice up the schedule. Let's not forget, changing the playoff format is not without precedent in the NHL.
"Is it a good thing? I would say 100%," Seitz said. "Would the NHL ever do it? I would say no. Because they follow traditions."
The NHL shared multiple draft schedules for the 2020-21 season with the National Hockey League Players' Association on Thursday, including one for a 56-game campaign, sources told TSN's Frank Seravalli.
The draft schedules are reportedly based on a Jan. 1 start date, but both sides have considered pushing that date back. A Jan. 15 start date is now being discussed as Jan. 1 no longer seems realistic, a source told TSN's Pierre LeBrun.
A 52-game season is also under consideration, LeBrun adds, but both the NHL and the NHLPA reportedly prefer a 56-game schedule.
It's clear the league won't play a full 82-game season since it apparently wants to conclude the Stanley Cup Final by early July, but it reportedly won't stage anything shorter than a 48-game slate; the league used a 48-game schedule during the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign.
Seravalli added that these talks are unrelated to the NHL's recent economic requests.
Discussions for the coming season hit a snag when the league asked players to defer 20% of their salaries with escrow rising to 25%. Players originally agreed to defer 10% of their salaries with escrow capped at 20% when the two sides agreed to a new CBA prior to the return to play.
Commissioner Gary Bettman insisted Wednesday the league is "not trying to renegotiate" the CBA.
The players' union is apparently prepared for the worst-case scenario. NHLPA lawyers are reportedly considering two courses of action should the league cancel the season: filing an unfair labor practice complaint or filing a grievance through an arbitrator.
The league and the NHLPA seemingly need to settle their plans within the month in order to drop the puck in January. Teams will need at least two weeks of training camp, and some players arriving from outside North America may need to quarantine for 14 days before taking the ice.
Additionally, the two sides have yet to agree on a format for the season, though an all-Canadian division seems inevitable given Canada's border restrictions. The league and the NHLPA have apparently discussed playing series of two-to-three games like those used in MLB, and at least seven teams reportedly want to play their home games outdoors.
